Remember to resize your digital images to 92 DPI and make the image 1024 cm on its longest side – there is a tutorial on the Links tab of this Website about how to do this in Photoshop – you will need a password to view this tutorial, if you don’t already have it,
ask a committee member.

Prints must be bigger than 10in x 8in and mounted on mount board no larger than 20in x
16in. The members club number; Division, Print title and Category (i.e. Colour/B & W) must be clearly marked on the back of each image.

This Tuesday we are also have a discussion on Photography D.I.Y – so if you have any
thrifty ideas, tips and tricks on homemade photographic equipment, or if you know of any place or anyonewhere you can get equipment or any other photographic service like printing, camera maintenance, sensor cleaning etc. done fairly cheaply, we’d love to hear about it!

Tuesday (March 6^th) is our monthly One-Shot competition – theme for March is
“Love” – so hopefully you’ve been inspired by St. Valentine and come up with the winner.  Entries will be judged by February’s winner, Colin Flahive, and March’s winner will have the pleasure of picking April’s theme and judging those entries.

Congratulations to Colin Flahive on winning February’s “Excitement” themed One-Shot Competition.  Colin will judge next month’s entries on March 6th.  Colin will confirm his chosen theme very shortly!

It is also One-Shot Competition time again.  This month’s theme is Excitement and will be judged by last month’s winner, Kevin Maguire.  For the first time one-shot entries can be submitted digitally on disc or USB key.  Kevin will view the images on the club laptop in private and choose a winner.  We can then view the entries and announce the winner who will choose and judge next month’s theme!

Ireland’s greatest Roller Derby team, the Dublin Roller Girls Vs Belfast Roller Derby and bonus bout, DRG Reserves Vs The Dockyard Destroyers at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght.  Doors open at 1pm, the first bout begins at 2.30pm and the second bout is at
4.45pm.  Our very own Sharon Lunney (AKA Annie Cleave’er Bitz) is part of the DRG team.  This would be a good opportunity to try your hand at sports photography and Sharon has offered the following advice to anyone thinking of shooting the event:

“Hi all, just for anyone planning on attending the Dublin Roller Girls bout in the National Basketball Arena this Saturday here are some notes:

1)     I’ve checked with the teams and so far most who skated in the world cup found that they didn’t really notice flash photography, they were too focused on killing each other so you should be ok to use flash, just be prepared to put it away if it starts to bother some of the other skaters and you are asked by the officials.

2)     Roller derby is a fast sport so fast shutter speeds over 160th second – 250th second should do you to capture the action and a fast lens, usually with quite a wide aperture to capture as much light as possible and keep the audience somewhat out of focus, alternatively there are good opportunities for some panning shots keeping the skaters in focus and blurring the background.

3)     It’s played on an oval track and some derby photographers say the best places to locate yourselves are on either turn 2 or 4 from the start position as the best action such as hits and jammers breaking through the pack tend to occur here, and at the turn you can capture some great shots of the jammer skating a cross over which will capture a little bit of grace and movement in form.

4)     IMPORTANT!!! If you intend on taking pictures trackside, you can get within maybe 10 feet or less of the track, please be careful not to get too close to the track marked edge and certainly not on the track if you value your life and camera gear! if you are within 10 feet of the track please ensure you are happy with your insurance in case your gear gets
damaged (it does happen) and always be prepared to JUMP if a skater falls and slides off track towards you, she can’t stop any faster than the floor slide allows and skaters can on some occasions slide into the first row of the audience, that’s why they’re called suicide seats!

5)     Look up a Flickr group called ‘Roller Derby‘ to get some ideas on the shots that can be obtained, some of them are really amazing! Have fun and I hope you enjoy the bout if you’re going!”

Annie Cleave’er Bitz! f2.8

This week, January 24th, our very own Philip O’Toole is giving a talk on Photoshop and will be taking questions on Photoshop processes.

This week is also our Monthly League Competition entry night so good luck to all our entrants – look forward to seeing you images on the 31st for judging!

There’s no such thing as a bad idea and all suggestions are welcome.

Congratulations to Kevin Maguire on winning the One-Shot competition for mobile phone photography with a lovely wintery image.  Kevin has chosen Excitement as the theme for February’s competition.  The subject is wide open, but the image must convey a feeling or have the impression of excitement.  Entries to be submitted and judged on February 7^th.  Good luck!

This week is also our entry night for January’s One-Shot competition!  This month’s theme is “Mobile Phone Photography” and will be judged by December’s winner Andy Patterson!

For more on what is planned for 2012, see our programme - please bear with us as it’s still a work in progress but will be updated regularly!

Our next club meeting will take place in the Rua Red at 7.30pm on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 – new members are always welcome and we look forward to seeing you all then!

We can meet at the Rua Red and get the LUAS into town from there – please be there before 7.30pm as we will be leaving promptly at 7.30 – if you’re there any later you will have missed us.
Alternatively, you can make your own way into town and meet us there!  Make your way to Grafton Street and we can meet at Stephen’s Green SC get some nice Christmassy photos and maybe get in a drink or two!

This will be our last club meeting until the new year – January 10th – but remember that we also have our Christmas party at the Old Mill pub on Saturday, December 17th.
Hope to see you then.